Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I will bear that last point in mind and do everything that I can, both for the Greenland goose and the people of Quilty. Before making my official response I wish to point out that the issue currently delaying the scheme is that the Department is waiting for material from the county council, material that was requested in February. I take the point made by both Senators about the need to avoid excessive bureaucracy.

I thank both Senators for raising this matter. These schemes are being advanced as part of the €4.4 billion expenditure package in the national development plan. I am anxious to spend that money. Senator Daly is right that the situation is frustrating. I must knock on the door of the Minister for Finance to ask for resources, but when I have resources left over it is difficult to move the programme forward. Last May, my Department published the water services investment programme. The total allocated to County Clare under this latest phase is €194 million for new water and sewerage schemes for some 40 towns and villages, an extraordinary amount which is the highest figure that any Government has ever allocated to County Clare. I am anxious that we spend that money, but I have a responsibility to ensure we get value for money and mind the taxpayers money.

The investment programme includes major sewerage projects for Ennis-Clarecastle as well as Ballyvaughan, Corofin, Doolin, Kilkee, Kilrush, Carrigaholt, Labasheeda, Cooraclare, Shannon town, Broadford, Ennistymon, Liscannor,Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point. It also includes water supply schemes for Ennis,Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ballyvaughan and the west Clare regional scheme. Funding has also been provided under the serviced land initiative to bring additional residential sites on stream as rapidly as possible to meet housing needs at a number of locations around the county, including Gillogue, Clarecastle, Clonlara and Tulla.

It is clear from this that a large number of towns and villages in Clare will directly benefit from the drive to bring our water and sewerage infrastructure up to a modern standard. I am pleased to say that Scariff, Feakle and Quilty-Mullagh are part of that positive picture. The sewerage schemes for these towns are being procured as a grouped project which has been approved for construction status under the water services investment programme.

My Department received contract documents for the project from Clare County Council last November. While the contract documents have been examined, the Department cannot complete its assessment until additional information and documentation subsequently requested from the council in February comes to hand. The main item outstanding is an up-to-date water services pricing policy report, often referred to as a polluter pays report. The council needs to certify that all aspects of planning, including the acquisition of a foreshore licence for the Quilty element of the project, have been completed. I understand that all such aspects have been finished. The pricing policy report will be a key factor in helping my Department to complete its examination of the contract documents. The report will identify the proportion of the overall capital cost that relates to providing sewerage services for the existing domestic population in each location and the additional cost attributable to existing and future commercial activity.

Under the pricing policy framework, the Exchequer funds the domestic share of the scheme. The local authority has to raise the balance of the capital from non-domestic consumers. The pricing report will identify the unit cost of servicing each existing household. To demonstrate that the proposed piped collection system and new treatment plant is an economic solution, the unit cost figure will need to compare reasonably well with the cost of installing a single house treatment system. We cannot avoid this value-for-money process if we want to ensure that taxpayers' money is being spent properly. The House will appreciate the importance of achieving value for Exchequer moneys. We are the custodians of the taxpayers' resources.

When pursuing sewerage schemes of this nature, the Department has to take account of the economics of the scheme as a whole, the justification for individual components of it and the need to phase some of the works to take account of current needs and potential future demand. The council must be satisfied that it can finance a scheme's non-domestic component by collecting capital contributions from existing non-domestic consumers and future developers.

The pricing policy report in this instance, which is awaited from Clare County Council, will bring clarity to these issues as they relate to the Scarriff, Feakle, Quilty and Mullagh scheme. The report will allow the Department to finalise its examination of the contract documents, which will then be used as the basis for tender invitations.

I have listened carefully and taken note of the points made by the Senators this evening. As both Senators said, I have no time for excessive bureaucracy. I would like as many as possible of the outstanding issues to be ironed out. I sometimes wonder why it is necessary to write lengthy letters which are passed back and forth through the mail. People could deal with things much more expeditiously by using the telephone and e-mail.

I am anxious that construction of the scheme should start as quickly as possible. I assure the Senators that there will be no avoidable delay on the part of the Department when the outstanding material that is awaited from the council has been received. If the Senators bring this debate to the attention of the council and inform me of the response they receive, I will do everything I can to make progress as quickly as possible.